Jewel



July 18, 1944! w. F. 4SCHMALJ 2,354,067

JEWEL Filed July 8, 1940 Mjjfam E 50h/Walz Patented July 18, 1944 JEWEL William F. Schmalz, Rockville, Conn., assigner to Colts Patent-Fire Arms Manufacturing Comj pany, Hartford, Conn necticut a corporation of Con- Applicaton July 8,' 1940, Serial No. 344,302

(Cl. Sii- 32) -3 Claims.

The invention relates to jewels, and more particularly to jewels of the fiat-backed type formed from light transmitting material; thev term atbacked is used herein to mean a substantiallyplane back, although a limited degree of convexity or concavity is contemplated, l

The primary object ofthe invention is to provide a flat-backed jewel'oi novel construction such that the jewel has a brilliance greater than that characteristic of the light transmitting material from which it is formed, the construction being such that the jewel is'relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Another object is to provide a jewel 'of the above character and which is hollow, the inner and outer surfaces of which have their opposing portions extending nonparallelly to impart life to the jewel. v

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from this specification to those skilled in-the art.

' In the accompanying drawing I have shown the now preferred embodiments of the invention, but it will be understood that the drawing is intended for illustrative purposes only and is not to be construed as deiining or limiting the scope ofthe invention, the claims forming a part of this specication being relied upon for that purpose.

In the drawing:

Figs. 1 and 2 are, respectively, plan and sectional elevational views of va jewel incorporating the principles of one phase of the invention.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the jewel shown in Figs. 1--3.k

Figs. 5 and 6 are, respectively, plan and sectional elevational views vof a jewel incorporating the principles of another phase of the invention.

Figs. 'l and 8 are, respectively, plan and sectional elevational views of a jewel incorporating certain further principles of the invention.

A flat-backed jewel is ordinarily lacking in brilliance due to the fact that from the Very nature of its shape there is little internal reflection of light rays entering the face of the jewel, and this is particularly true of jewels used for costume jewelry and similar purposes made in imitation of precious or semiprecious jewels. In accordance with the broader aspects of one phase of the invention, a flat-backed jewel construction is provided in which means having a reflecting surface is secured to the back of the jewel to increase its brilliance. The reflecting means is preferably a relatively stiff polished metallic disc formed either solely of metal of sufiicient thickness to have the desired stiffness or of a thin sheet of metal stiiened by a backing material such as cardboard, for example. More specii'lc aspects of this phase of vthe invention include the recessing oi the back of the jewel, such as by providing a relatively thin rearwardly extending peripheral ange, and securing the reflecting metallic disc within such recess.

For the purposes of this specication the principles of the invention have been illustrated as they may be applied to a jewel of rose cut,but it will be obvious that they are equally applicable to any flat-backed jewel. j Y

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, there is shown a rose cut jewel having a body I formed of light transmitting material. Any desired and suitable light transmitting material may be used, although it is now preferred to usel one from which the shaped body of the jewel may be inexpensively manu-` rials. The body l is recessed at its back, an inte-` A regral flange 2 serving to form the recess. ecting disc 3 is secured within the recess and serves to lreflect the light rays entering the face of the jewel. The illustrated disc is made wholly of metaly being preferably formed by stamping it from a sheet or strip of polished nickel or chro-` miurn plated stock having a thickness of about .008". It is preferred to make the ilange 2 as thin as is feasible so that the disc may be substantially coextensive in area with the back of the body to thus reduce to a minimum the area of lesser brilliance. While the disc may be secured within the recess in any desired manner, a forced fit with the flange 2 frictionally engaging the peripheral edge of the disc will in most instances hold the body and disc in proper relative positions and assembled relationship. When the body is formed of a relatively soft and easily plasticized material, any burrs or slight roughness at the edge of the disc resulting from the stamping operation cut into the material of the flange 2 to more firmly secure the disc within the recesses, and some of the material of the When formed of any ofthe fore.

flange, or small projections molded integrally therewith, may be softened with a heated tool and flowed radially inward over the back of the disc to form lugs 4 which aid in securing the disc within the recess as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Brilliance and life are, of course, desirable in jewels and their attainment is to a large extent dependentl upon the` faceting vof the jewel, the greater the number of facets, the more brilliance and life a jewel of any particular basic,

shape and material will have. However, as the number of facets is increased the angle of inter-` section of adjacent facets also increases, and when the jewel is made by a molding process it becomes more diiiicult t maintain a sharp line of facet intersection as the angle of intersection increases. In accordance with another phase of the invention, provision is made for increasing the life of a flat-backed jewel without increasing the angle of intersection of the facets. This is accomplished by providing a relatively deep recess in the back of the body of the jewel such that opposed portions of the inner and outer surfaces of the body extend nonparallelly; and more specifically, it is preferable that, in addition to the foregoing relationship, at least one of the surfaces be faceted or that both `be faceted. A jewel incorporating these principles has more life due to the effect the nonparallel relationship of the opposed portions of the inner and outer surface of the body has on the light rays reflected from the back of the jewel.

In Figs. 5 and 6 is shown a jewel having a body 5 with a faceted exterior surface and preferably made by molding from one of the light transmittingv materials above-mentioned. A relatively deep recess E is formed in the back of the body to provide an inner surface in the body which is so shaped and related to the outer faceted surface that opposed portions of the two surfaces extend nonparallelly. A metallic reflecting disc l, similar to that shown in Figs. 1-4, is secured to the back of the jewel by frictional engagement with flange 8 and lugs 9. In constructions incorporating the principles of this phase of the invention it is particularly important that the light rays entering the face of the jewel be reiiected as it is the passage of these reflected rays through the nonparallelly extending surfaces which imparts life to the jewel.

While a substantially conical recess is shown in Figs. 5 and 6 it should be understood that other shapes may be used and that the appearance of the jewel will be controlled by the shapes of the inner and outer surfaces. Figs. l and 8 illustrate a jewel having a combination of surface shapes which is particularly effective. The jewel comprises a body IB of light transmitting material which is exteriorly faceted as indicated by the solid lines in Fig. 7. The back of the body is deeply recessed at II and the inner surface is faceted as indicated by the dash lines in Fig. '7. The interior faceting is similar to the exterior, but, as is apparent from the figures, the interior facets are offset relative to the exterior ones with the result that opposed portions of the inner and outer surfaces of the body extend nonparallelly. A metallic reflecting disc I2 is suitably secured to the back of the jewel by ange I3 and lugs I4.

v The illustrated shape and relationship of surfaces @greatly increases, in effect, the number of facets without increasing the angles of intersection of the facets to thereby permit the maintenance of sharp lines of intersection of the facets.

' skilled in the art.

WhatIclaim is:

l. A flat-backed jewel comprising in combination, a shaped body of light transmitting material having an outer surface composed of a plurality of facets formed at the edges thereofv and also having a relatively deep recess in the back of said body to provide an inner surface therefor, said inner surface being composed of a plurality of substantially flat surface portions of which the majority thereof extend generally nonparallelly in opposed relationship to the majority of the facets of said outer surface, and a member secured to the back of said body and having a reflecting surface spaced from said inner surface of said body.

2. A flat-backed jewel comprising in combination, a shaped body of light transmitting material having an outer surface composed of a plurality of adjoining surface portions and also having a relatively deep recess in the back of said body to provide an inner surface therefor comprising a plurality of facets joined at their abutting edges, said facets and adjoining surface portions of said outer surface being respectively misaligned with each other, and a member secured to said back of said body and having a refleeting surface spaced from said inner surface of said body.

3. A flat-backed jewel comprising in combination, a shaped body of light transmitting material having an outer surface and a relatively deep recess inthe back of said body to provide an inner surface therefor, said inner and outer surfaces each being provided with a plurality o1' facets joined at their abutting edges and substantially all of said facets of said inner and outer surfaces being respectively non-parallel to each other, and a member secured to said back of said body and having a. reiiecting surface spaced from said inner surface of said body.

WILLIAM F. SCHMALZ. 

